Various small occupational tools are required for crew members such as cabin attendants as occupants of aircraft. Absolutely essential among these are keys and small mirrors. Keys are used for locking and unlocking airport facilities that are restricted from entrance by non-personnel, while small mirrors are used to confirm oxygen gas cylinder pressure meters mounted on passenger aircraft or to confirm one's own eye or mouth regions. Miniature lights are also used for sending communication signals outside of the aircraft, but at least the keys and mirrors are held together as essential items by a coupling tool such as a key ring, and are carried after being placed in a uniform pocket.
When such small tools create a bulge in the pocket after having been placed in the pocket, they can potentially create a feeling of discomfort for passengers, and they must therefore be of as compact a size as possible so as not to feel bulky. However, while with keys there is no reduction in function even if the size is reduced, if the size of a mirror is reduced, the function of the mirror may be reduced by the smaller effective mirror surface area, even though it eliminates bulge when they are placed in a pocket.
Mirrors having special specifications have not existed in the prior art as such mirrors for aircraft crew members. Currently, therefore, crew members themselves have been selecting and acquiring appropriate commercial products for use.
For example, a conventional portable mirror is described in Patent Literature 1, although it is not a mirror for aircraft crew members. A through-hole is provided at the end in the longitudinal direction of the mirror main body, and a chain strap or the like is inserted through the through-hole, from which the mirror is suspended.
However, the following problem results when such a small mirror is deployed as a mirror for aircraft crew members, and for example, when an oxygen gas cylinder pressure meter is confirmed with the ring-shaped coupling tool passing through the through-hole and held together with a key.
The key is gripped in the palm of the hand and the mirror alone is turned outward, holding the portion of the through-hole at the center section in the widthwise direction at the end of the mirror, sandwiching it between the thumb and the index finger. However, since the coupling tool runs through the through-hole, it constitutes an obstacle and results in an unstable grip. In order to stably grip the mirror, therefore, the position sandwiched between the thumb and the index finger is transferred further inward in the longitudinal direction than the through-hole, so that a portion of the mirror surface becomes unavoidably covered. As a result, the mirror surface that can be used for reflection is reduced and a larger size mirror must therefore be used, such that the problem described above is not solved.